


Truth Hurts

by lovethebees



Category: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: 1960s, Another School AU, Closeted Character, Coming Out, Coming of Age, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Everyone Is Gay, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Sexism, Set while keating is teaching, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking, Very slow romance, charlie dalton canon bi, chris/knox storyline doesn't exist, everyone is happy, follow the movie, head canon all characters, i need serotonin, messy relationship, poetry references, what if
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:00:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29609079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovethebees/pseuds/lovethebees
Summary: What if there's a school past the lake at Welton Academy? What if it's St. Benedict Academy for girls?Meet Dorothea, Evangeline, Béatrice and Tatiana, they call themselves "The Green Moths" and have sworn to protect and embrace every form of art it comes in their way.What happens when their world suddenly collides with The Dead Poets?Follow the coming of age of this unstable, messy, funny, unusual team, while they struggle to discover who they are, who they like, what's their meaning and what they want to do with the little time they have on earth, while obviously always seizing the day.
Relationships: Charlie Dalton/Original Character(s), Charlie Dalton/Original Female Character(s), Todd Anderson/Neil Perry
Kudos: 5





	Truth Hurts

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so this has been sitting in my drafts for so long, and I don't know if anybody will read it, but I needed to get it out.  
> Basically I just created another group of girls, and made them meet the dead poets. there will be mainly romance, little angst, attempting at humour. MANY Neil/OFC and Neil/Todd and its gonna be messy at the start, but i promise everything will make sense at the end, but yea this is MAINLY a Charlie Dalton/OFC fic. Its gonna be about coming of age for the characters, so mainly experiencing, questioning their sexuality ecc... but there is NO gonna be smut, i refuse soorry.  
> I did not make a very precise description about the girls, just hc/ec and interests, bc i feel its not necessary, and i tried to make them as generic as possible bc i feel like they should portray the reader in some twisted way,, idk.  
> I am hating the summary, and ill probably change it.

> _I. The School_

Sometimes Charlie Dalton wondered what was on the other side of the enormous lake in front of that horrid, testosterone-stinking prison people used to call school. He wouldn’t ever have imagined it was his deepest, most raw and intense desire: St. Benedict School for girls.

If he'd known in fact he would’ve probably swam in the cold freezing temperature of that late October day with all clothes and the rest, probably yanking all the books in the air and letting out a loud enthusiastic “YAWP” before diving. While in reality he was just minding his own business, tracing a nice path in the muddy soil smiling at how dirty is shoes were, and how angry the principal would’ve got, seeing his footsteps all over the school.

“Charlie!” He instinctively snapped at someone calling his name but didn’t stop for a moment to play with the ground, smiling proudly like a literal 2 year old. “Cmon man we’re gonna be late for Mr. Keating!”

It was Gerard Pitts, but everyone called him Pitts mostly because everyone, him included, despited his first name. He was waving and glancing at Charlie, watching distractedly at his side where a very anxious, almost neurotic Steven Meeks was pushing his glasses up the bridge of his freckled small nose. Now, everyone called him Meeks but this time not because they didn’t like his name, but because the two of them where nearly inseparable and their last name had a nice ring together _‘Pitts and Meeks’_.

Charlie was smirking once again, and Pitts knew that only meant trouble. Meeks would’ve known it too if he wasn’t constantly glancing at his watch.

Charlie took the opportunity to bent down, gather a small amount of mud and throw it towards Meeks, who found himself completely drenched in dirt.

“Size the day, boys!” He screamed.

And thats how the mud war began.

On the other side of the shore, right past the very high pines, the nearly destructed pier, and the very unuttered ground sat Dorothea Higgs, who everyone at school called Dot.

She was sitting crossed-leg, on the knees an open book she was trying to read with every fibre of her soul.

“ _Nous sommes ravis d'accueillir nos invités, mettez-vous à l'aise.*”_ She tried again, squishing her lips together like Mrs. Lynn thought her, trying to get out that very annoying sound that she always missed in class. “ _accueillir_ _—“_ She sighed and she would’ve continued if it wasn’t for a high pitched scream that made her jolt in her seat.

“LOOK WHAT I’VE GOT” Béatrice Ware, a perky, small bottle blonde wearing the same uniform as Dorothea, with the same exceptions, was waving a packet full of cigarettes in her hand screaming at her friend and smirking at the same time.

“Oh thank God, I needed that—“ Dorothea snapped the prized possession out of her fingers and returned to her previous seat, throwing however the French book out of the way. “And I needed you, can you pronounce _that_ again?” She took a cigarette out and began lighting it, gesturing towards the book and pleading the friend with sorrow eyes.

“My God Dot, get a dick, it’s ok not to have all A’s in all classes you know?” Béatrice snapped the cigarette out of her hands before she could even take a hit and smiled. “No one is going to die if you can’t pronounce a word.”

Dorothea rolled her eyes, and, thinking that she needed to get her own pack, snatched another cigarette.

“I am—“ she shrugged in her shoulders watching her friend finally sat beside her taking the book in her hands. “cmon just one more time.”

“ _A_ _ccueillir.”_ Béatrice finally replied, after a long pause, with her perfect French accent.

Of course having French origins, a mom who always used to talk to her in French and a very nice cottage in the countryside of the capital where she used to spend every living breath when she was little, had a little something to do with that.

“I am never going to get that.” For Dorothea, and the rest of the world beside French, was really, really difficult to pronounce, it was like her tongue was resisting her, or maybe simply refusing to pronounce such atrocity.

The bell on the high watchtower began to ring and, while Béatrice explained how she got the cigarettes and where exactly they were supposed to hide them in their shared room, Dorothea reached to grab her coat, that she put on the ground to not get her skirt dirty.

Something happened at that precise moment, I’m not sure if it was simply wind or a very funny joke from destiny, fact is that the coat took off, and, moved by the wind, began to fly mindlessly towards the pines, and the dock.

Béatrice was laughing loudly at her friend trying to snap the piece of clothing out of the grasp of the weather, and, sooner or later, not even watching where she was going, Dorothea did it.

She took the coat and sighed loudly, frowning at the sky and only then glancing at her surroundings. She was standing on the pier, her feet balancing on the unsafe wood that trembled every time she tried to move.

She didn’t even knew there was a lake, she didn’t even knew why the school completely closed the pier off with those big pines, the view was so beautiful.

And then, again I think destiny was somehow involved, she heard a light laughter. It was mild, and far, far away, but she turned anyway towards the sound.

And that was the first time Dorothea saw Charlie.

Now, I admit seeing is not really the word for it, the lake was pretty big, and her sight wasn’t exactly that good, she just saw some dots, moving around on the other side of the shore, but what she really noticed was the building right past those dots.

It was a school, she was certain about it. They even shared the same high clocktower with the bells and all, it had to be a school, if it wasn’t it would’ve been a convent, and she wasn’t that thrilled to share the lake with a convent, with a school on the other hand…

She heard the bushes moved beside her and, peeking with the corner of her eye, she saw Béatrice marvelled as much as she did at that sight.

> _II. The Lights_

“It was a school, I’m telling you.” Béatrice was waving a pencil between her fingers, looking elsewhere and daydreaming, like she always used to do, so much that she probably didn’t even realize she was talking.

The girls were sitting in the common room, where they used to study together, sprawled out in one of the smallest table since they were only four.

Dorothea was minding her own business, underlying the most important passages she could find in the Chemistry book, next to her Tatiana Hargrove was trying to ask her questions regarding the subject, glancing from her notebook to the friend’s. The girl tried to gather her long, messy, black hair so they didn’t obscure her sight, peeking through Dorothea’s notes.

“I think those cigarettes are messing up your brain.”Evangeline Garrison, known as Eve, said, fixing her short, brown hair and lightly patting her bangs while smirking towards Béatrice. She was glancing at her own homework with no intention of doing not even a little bit of it; She would’ve copied all of it from Dorothea anyway.

But don’t be mistaken by the fact that these girls were trying to study, they all were up to no good. It was clear to every other student or teacher in the school that they were the black sheeps, the troublemaker, the ones you really shouldn’t be friends with. They were half-away from graduating, and neither of them wanted to do what their parents had set their minds on.

“I think I want to pursue arts.” That was what Dorothea had said to Mrs. Bover when asked what their purpose was during the class on their very first day of school. And, instead of a cheer of applause and nice comforting faces like she would’ve imagined, the girl gained a full laugh from the professor.

“My dear, let me tell you to give up right away and choose something more realistic.” Dorothea sat back in the chair, cringing away from others gazes, but there were three others girls that, instead of snickering and laughing at her, watched her with admiration and understanding.

Since then they became inseparable, and always used to sneak out during the night to gather in the nice spot beyond the pines, right where Dorothea found the pier, and talk mindlessly about everything.The main subjects where arts, how to express themselves in a way that wasn’t orthodox but made them feel alive.

Tatiana had an extraordinary talent for freehand drawing and painting, her fingers seemed to be created to grasp a piece of charcoal or a brush, she could create the most brilliant and beautiful image just by seeing it one time.

Béatrice had an amazing voice, and most of the evenings, when they found themselves under that very tree, she sang her latest component, smiling through the performance knowing her friends where watching mesmerized by the sound.

Evangeline wanted to be an actress, and, even if she did find every one of those old plays they thought them boring as hell, she loved all the drama and energy of their characters, and most of times perform some lines of the most ‘bearable’.

And finally, Dorothea love writing, her style was classical-inspired, but she always made sure to throw in there some cute modern reference, and personal inputs, so the reader would always know where she stood.

They called themselves ‘The Green Moths’ Tatiana came out with the name a few months later when they all got detention for covering in butter the hallway because they wanted to see if they could slide, Béatrice idea.

“Moths come out when it’s dark, but they are always searching for the light.” Green was because of their school uniform that consisted of a plaid black and green skirt that they all resented so much, and decided to wear a little too high on their waist, making their thighs slightly more visible, high white socks that they wore on up and one down their calves, a plain white blouse with the first three buttons cut off, then everyone had their own personal touch.

Tatiana always used to have a pencil behind her ear, Béatrice tied her hair in buns so that they didn’t get in her face, Evangeline had pierced, on her own with a safety pin, her lobes so many times that there where no space left for anything else, and she thanked her bob haircut to cover them for her, and Dorothea made sure to always have in full display on her jacket the women’s movement brooch which she held dearly on.

The Green Moths soon became their home and nest, and, even if many others despised them, or ridiculed them, they were proud, and happy to be rightfully by the wrong side.

The name sounded so good that Evangeline even tried to embroider the words on the t-shirts of their school uniform. The result wasn’t that good, and anyhow they were forced to get rid of them because the principal found out and stated they were “hideous” and “a threat to the conformity of the school dressing rules”.

But what they did was engrave the letters TGM on the large tree they always used to sat under, as to say to everyone who passed from there, it was their spot.

They didn’t do anything extraordinary during their meetings, just talk about what they wanted to do, smoke some cigarettes Béatrice had stolen, or drink any alcohol that Evangeline had succeeded in snitching out of her kitchen duty, and maybe singing and playing some songs, it was a nice way to spend the night.

“Dot, are you getting any of this?” Tatiana was once more fidgeting beside Dorothea, her slim fingers tracing the pages of the book she was trying to read.

“Yeah…” Dot seemed to snap out of the concentration she was in, smiling towards her friend. “Here, I’ll help you.” She was just about to get the notebook out of her hands and explain what she understood of that day’s class, when Béatrice snapped it out of her hands, jolting right up on the bench, the smirk quite visible on her face.

“We have bigger problems than—“ Béatrice took a moment to glance at the open page. “ _buffer solutions.”_ She concluded, disgusted.

“And what would that be?” Tatiana asked.

“MISS. WARE!” The librarian screamed when she realized Béatrice was still standing on the bench and had no intention of getting off of it. “Get off that!” She stood up, making the chair of the desk creek on the wooden floor.

Dorothea grasped at her sleeve and yanked her down, and when she finally sat with a loud thud all the girls laughed.

“Apologies, Mrs. Blaise.” They all muttered at the same time, trying not to show the smirk.

“The school across the lake, of course!” Béatrice answered only when the librarian returned to read her book, and the laughter died on.

“I thought it was only in your head.” Evangeline teased.

“Shut up, you didn’t see it.” Béatrice was snickering at the friend.

“That’s why I don’t believe you.” The two of them seemed a couple of five years old now, bickering.

“Why the fuck would you say that? You know I’d never lie to you” that earned a loud laugh from the table, Evangeline slammed her fist on the wood trying to breath normally.

After another SHHHH from Mrs. Blaise, that was watching them like a hawk, Béatrice finally said: “Ok, Dot saw it too.”

Everything went quiet at that point.

“Did you?” Tatiana asked, her sweet voice coming out as a whisper.

Dorothea only nodded.

“I wanna see it.”

Three days later the girls where finally finished decorating the pier.

I am very proud to say, they did a splendid job with the little resources they had. They had to rent some tools from the school, that no one ever used anyway, and together they got straight up all the chops of wood to create a very nice, clean surface. Tatiana decided to paint some of them and, sneaking out of art class some paint, she began drawing something.

The result was beautiful: very funny little birds were painted on the dock and it looked like they were about to take off as soon as the wood finished and water started. They got some rags and cushions from the library and used them to sit on when they were on the pier. That had become their now favourite spot.

Sometimes, when the air wasn’t so chilly, and there wasn’t so much wind, they stayed there till the last bell ring, which meant the kitchen was closed and no one could have dinner anymore. The sun settling down on the hills right in front of them was a nice view and, with Béatrice stealing cigarettes, Evangeline some booze the threw a little party.

They went back to the dormitory just because the principal was going to pass for the bed checks, but as soon as they heard the lights click off, they all snuck out and gather on the pier.

The moon was high in the sky, and it was so splendid and white that seemed to light the whole setting, Dorothea had the idea of getting the lid from the dumpster outside the school yard, to light a fire, and, at the warm, cozy spot, all sprawled out on their cushions they talked.

“Do you think it’s a boy’s school?” Béatrice asked, out of nowhere, making Evangeline laugh lightly.

Now, I know everyone will say that its not possible, and that we have all been instructed to think that girls don’t have _necessities,_ and that only boys would go out looking for girls. But believe me, it’s not true.

“I don’t care for once.” Evangeline was laughing lightly, getting comfy on her cushion.

“Oh shut up, don’t rub your Robert in our faces.” Tatiana was snickering, taking a big breath of the cigarette and passing it to Dorothea that laughed loudly.

“Shhh!” Evangeline warned her, and glanced at the finished bottle of whiskey she got from Mrs. Pollard hiding spot. “God, Alcohol makes you all noisy and loud.” Béatrice laughed again and shove her by her shoulder, making her lose balance and making the rest of the girls laugh.

By doing so Dorothea slightly inclined backwards, trying to glance at the sky. She would’ve if it wasn’t for something catching her attention, right past the lake, on the other side of the shore.

“Lights.”

> _III. The Lipstick_

“I swear it gets more and more muddy every time we get here.” Meeks was trying not to get his tailored black, shiny shoes in the muddy ground, while, at the same time, trying no to get the hood of the coat in his face and balancing the flashlight in his hand.

“Why did you have to wear those anyway?” Neil asked, the everlasting smile lighting up his face while he glanced back at his friend. He tossed the flashlight in the air and caught it mindlessly.

“I like how they fit..” He tried to explain, but there was nothing to explain, he just liked them.

“I swear he’s sleeping in those” Pitts answered and, after a friendly shove from Meeks, fell on the ground followed by the group’s laugh.

Charlie was the first to help him get up, and, while Pitts was screaming at how dirty his cape was, Charlie glanced at the lake.

“Fire.” The air caught up in his throat and suddenly he felt something he had rarely felt: wordless.

“Uh..?” Richard, the uptight, red-headed with the chemistry book under one arm, glanced towards what Charlie couldn’t get his eyes off.

“Fire!” Charlie exclaimed, running towards the shore, waving frantically his arms and smiling like an idiot.

He felt like an idiot, stumbling in the mud, gesturing his arms and the flashlight in the air, but something was over there, finally he could see something over there.

“Charlie!” Neil ran towards him, grabbing him by the coat and pulling him down.

“Stop It!” Richard was screaming, on the verge of crying from anxiety, the creepy setting wasn’t doing him any favours.

“Why?” Charlie was laughing glancing towards the other side of the lake, while Neil still held him off.

“We don’t know who that might be!” Richard said, logically, and everyone agreed. 

Charlie shook his head, dismissively.

“Nonsense—“ he breathed in through his nostrils, and then smiled. “those are girls I can feel it.” Pitts fidgeted in his stance, and so did Meeks not really sure what they were supposed to do.

“Yeah, sure…” Richard picked up the pace, walking towards the cave, the rest of them followed him, except Charlie and Neil.

“Uhm…” Neil tried, and even though he knew Charlie was barely listening to him, continued. “Do you know where Todd is?” Charlie was looking at the fire, he sweared he saw something moving beside it, _someone_.

“Uh, no.” He said nonchalantly, and only when he saw his friend’s red tinted cheeks he thought back to what Todd had told him a few hours ago. “Oh, I think he’s gonna be late, but he’ll be there.” He smiled, and Neil seemed to gain joyfulness.

“You know what we’re gonna do?” Charlie asked, rhetorically, watching how the fire, so far away, seemed to get bigger and bigger while the idea in his head formed.

The next morning, at 4:56 am Charlie, Pitts, Meeks, Neil and Todd sneaked out a canoe of the dock, and, while still with their eyes half-closed for the early wake, jumped right in and paddled it out in the lake. The sun was slowly coming out of his nest, between the dark hills, and everything felt like rain and humidity, so much that Meeks had to clean his glasses two or three times.

Charlie left the oar when they came right in the middle of the lake, and the canoe slightly trembled under his weight. He gripped at the wood, leaning over, trying to sneak a peak because the fog had settled and nothing could be seen, except the dock. Everyone behind him watched closely, holding their breath in the back of their throat, paddling more lightly now, the top of the canoe tearing open the rainy air, letting them pass through the mist.

And finally, they saw the shore.

There was no one. Empty.

Charlie’s face turned into a frown, and everyone sighed, if there’d been Richard he would’ve tell them ‘I told you so’, but no everyone was like him, some would say luckily.

They all noted the various patterns on the pier, and smiled at the vibrant colors. The fire was long gone, the only thing left were some burned out cigarettes and some charcoal.

“Let’s go back guys.” Meeks was just about to paddle back when Charlie screamed.

In the silence of the lakeside, where everything stood still his voice seemed to resonate.

“Are you out of your mind Charlie?” Todd whispered, glancing around him to make sure no one had heard them.

“Get closer.” Charlie motioned, and despite everyone doubting him, and his state of mind, they obliged.

Charlie took one of the cigarettes from the dock and, finally smirking, he showed the prized possession towards the others.

The cigarette was small, white and black at the end, but when their eyes set on the very light pink shade on the filter, they smiled.

“Is…” Meeks tried but he was still too confused.

“It’s lipstick.”

The sound of a fist being slammed on the table woke everyone up from the common room.

“I told you.” Charlie was waving the cigarette in front of Richard’s face, who, half-dizzy half-scared, watched him. His face completely changed when he noticed the pink smear of the cigarette.

Charlie snickered, running away from all the boys that were following him, and plopping down in the armchair in the middle of the room. The others gathered around, watching, astonishingly, how Charlie inspected the trophy.

“You know they could be 40 year old women with a beard right?” Richard was trotting proudly towards the others, his chin up high at the ceiling and arms-crossed.

“Oh, shut up.” Charlie smirked. “You only say that because you were wrong.”

Tension filled the room when Richard snorted and walked back to the desk, resuming his homework.

“What should we do now?” Neil asked, more to break the tension than to actually say something.

“Easy…” Charlie had his signature smile on his face, watching his friends fidgeting all around him. “We introduce ourselves.”

> _IV. The Canoe_

Later that evening, the girls had already finished their assignments for the next day, and, when they were sure enough nobody would’ve followed them or looked for them, they went back to the pier.

The sun was high in the sky and, surprisingly clean from clouds, they laughed when Dorothea put on her sunglasses and laid back on the cushion. Sooner than later they were all laughing and smiling and, since nobody saw them get away, nor stalked them, Béatrice took out the pack of cigarettes she hid in her bra and passed it to the others.

“How’s the story coming Dottie?” Evangeline asked tossing away her shoes with her foot and letting her leg dangle from the dock her toes slightly grazing the surface of the water.

“Yeah, did you fix that plot hole?” Tatiana, whose head was on Evangeline’s stomach, plopped up on her elbows. 

“Remind me what it talked about again?” Béatrice was too focused to look elsewhere while asking the question, her mind total captured by the black nail polish with which she was painting Dorothea’s nails.

“Again, it’s not a single topic—“ her cheeks lightly tinted red, she always used to get scared or embarrassed of what she wrote, feeling comfortable only showing it to them. “It’s a collection of short stories.” She concluded and Béatrice nodded.

“So what’s the matter? Why can’t you write?” Tatiana was still resting on her forearms, hawking her friend beneath the dark lens of her sunglasses.

“I don’t know, it’s missing something.” Dorothea blurted out, and let her knees fall and rest together while she settle on the cushion.

“Do you have the writer’s block?” Evangeline was the first to ask the question, and the only one tough enough to do so, considering Dorothea always went mad when she couldn’t write and someone made her notice.

“Don’t you even dare pronounce those words in my pres—“ Dorothea was rising up her back from the dock, settling down on her elbows to look straight to Evangeline and incinerate her with her gaze, but something past her friend caught her eyes.

She moved the sunglasses down her nose, her piercing brown eyes, lighted up for the sun, in complete disbelief, her mouth slightly open.

“Oh.” Se paused, the others glancing back, towards what she was watching. “My.” A light breeze moved her hair and cover her skin in goosebumps. “God.”

That time, getting the canoe out of the dock had been more difficult.

Meeks had to distract the keeper with some silly questions about boats and wood and how the ancient ones used to make them waterproof, while the others took the canoe and tried, as best as possible, not be seen while they sailed away. Luckily, since the gang was at its best, and all of them paddled fast, they succeeded in avoiding prying eyes, and reaching the middle of the lake in minutes.

The first thing Charlie saw was the dock, slowly unraveling itself, and then heard the light sound of a laughter. He smiled, turned to the others and prepared himself.

Neil, in the front of the canoe, was flipping through the pages of the old book Mr. Keating had given him, and once he found what he was looking for he gave Charlie a knowing look passing him the tome.

Charlie leaned out from the craft, arms spread open, the undying smile still on his face.

Finally they came in reach of the dock, everyone on the canoe holding their breath, watching what destiny finally gifted them.

“Exultation is the going

Of an inland soul to sea,

Past the houses, past the headlands,

Into deep eternity!” Charlie chanted the poem, glancing at the girls and then at his friends.

A snicker was heard coming from the pier, and, after a small pause, a few side glances between them, someone finally said, just as Charlie was about to continue:

“Bred as we, among the mountains,

Can the sailor understand

The divine intoxication,

Of the first league of land?”

The boys on the canoe fell silent and, half-dazed by the fact that someone just finished the poem, began smiling uncontrollably.

Dorothea took her glasses off, the joyful eyes finally settling on the mysterious group, and the boy who was laughing, leaning forward from the canoe.

**Author's Note:**

> *We are delighted to welcome our guests, make yourselves at home. 
> 
> Kudos and Comments are highly appreciated and welcome, i always check them because it makes me feel warm and fuzzy.  
> Thank you for taking the time to read my piece and please feel free to tell me if there's any grammar mistakes so I can correct them since English isn't my main tongue.  
> always remember to Love The Bees, peace out //


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